I found this recipe in a Rachel Ray cookbook. She talks about eating these sandwiches in Paris. That sounds nice. I just ate mine in the kitchen.
I adapted her recipe a little bit. She says to use Gruyere cheese, but I couldn’t find any so I used Swiss. My kids called these “inside out sandwiches”, because the cheese is on the outside of the bread. When you grill them, it toasts to a flavorful crust.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Croque Monsieur – “Fancy” Toasted Ham and Cheese
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs. butter plus extra for butter the bread
- 2 Tbs. flour
- 1 cup milk warmed
- 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
- shake of nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- sandwich bread
- 1 lb. ham thinly sliced
- 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
Instructions
- First, you’re going to make a white sauce to spread on the inside of the sandwiches.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
- Stir in the flour and cook for a minute.
- Whisk in the milk. Add the mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Cook for a couple of minutes until thickened.
- To make the sandwiches, heat a non-stick skillet or griddle.
- Spread the sauce on a slice of bread.
- Top with ham and the other slice of bread.
- Butter the outside of the bread. I found this easiest to do by putting the sandwich on a plate and buttering one side, flipping to butter the other.
- Press both sides of the sandwich into the shredded cheese and place on the griddle or skillet. Cook for several minutes, until golden brown then flip to cook the other side.
Haha. I love your note: “That sounds nice. I ate mine in the kitchen.” Made me laugh out loud!
I recently started using dijon in grilled sandwiches as well – it’s very nice! One I recently tried was essentially this recipe (minus the nutmeg) with a fried egg instead of the ham. Yummy!
Cheese on the outside? How fun. My kids would love this!
Oh, yum! Am adding this to my “must make” list. Am traveling so will have to wait until I get home. This is comfort food personified!
Yum! My husband grew up eating these a lot in Germany and so this post made me smile. 🙂
I saw a version of this on Paula…looks great
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Just had this for dinner and it was great!! Thanks!!
I like these =D
This made it on my meal plan this week and I can not wait to try them! My kids are going to be thrilled!
You can check out my menu here:
http://www.crystalandcomp.com/2010/03/weekly-meal-plan-20.html
I had to laugh as soon as I saw this because the hubby and I were watching “It’s Complicated” the other night and I had to put the subtitles on to figure out what they were eating because it looked so good! I then googled a recipe and made them up before we even finished watching the movie! They were soooooo yummy! Can’t wait to try this version!
Thanks for sharing
Gina
Gina, that is funny! I would never have thought to use subtitles to find the name of a food 🙂 Good thinking!
Tried this tonight. Everyone loved it. My husband ate two. Very, very good.
There’s an easier way to butter the outside of your sandwiches. Take two slices of bread out of the package and open them on a plate like a book. Butter the “up” faces of the bread then put them, buttered sides together and set them back down on the plate. Spread your white sauce on the unbuttered side of the top slice, then add the ham (or whatever else you’re going to put on the inside of the sandwich). Pick up the sandwich and peel the bottom piece of bread off, put the top bread butter side down on the grated cheese and top with the former bottom piece, butter side up. Flip the entire sandwich over to put the grated cheese on the other side.
OH this was so good! I was surprised my husband enjoyed it. I thought maybe the Dijon mustard was going to be too overpowering but it was not at all. I just added a little more nutmeg. Its a Keeper!